Bethesda Softworks and id Software have published the second official DOOM: The Dark Ages trailer at a rather unusual time and date, late on Sunday night (at Easter, no less). Still, it was a nice surprise for fans, to be sure, and the official YouTube channel already shows half a million views in the span of mere hours.
By the way, this is a cinematic trailer, not a gameplay trailer. It’s entirely focused on story bits, which reflects what id Software told the press when they first discussed the game a couple of months ago: the plot will be more important than ever in a DOOM game. Of course, there’s a lot more to DOOM: The Dark Ages, which they described as the most expansive franchise installment yet:
Marty Stratton:Â It’s definitely not an open world game, but it is the most expansive world we’ve ever built. You really feel like you’re on a battlefield. It goes from the typical linear DOOM to these large sandboxes where the exploration opens up, and you get multiple objectives that can be tackled in any order. Exploration is also tied to power in that you can find and unlock several upgrades for your character.
Hugo Martin:Â There’s a much greater focus on progression items. We’ve really streamlined the economy and the currencies. I think that’s another thing we learned from DOOM Eternal. If you have too many currencies and skill trees, you confuse the player. But speaking of the level design, we’re very proud of it. It’s some of the best work we’ve ever done.
Last month, Wccftech’s Chris Wray went hands-on with the game at a press event, and his take was very positive:
This massive battlefield was far more open than what you generally get in a DOOM title. Some trappings remained, in that you have arenas to encounter and loads of secrets to find via some exploration, but it never felt constrained by the usual corridors you come to expect. While still somewhat driven, it offered a bit of an open feel, where you could maybe find yourself at odds in one area, decide to tackle somewhere else and rearm before coming back.
Combine this more open approach with the excellent fast-paced combat from DOOM Eternal, where you will be finishing off enemies to have extra life and ammo fall out of their bodies, combos and well-timed attacks being rewarded with more to keep you going, and you have a recipe for greatness.
DOOM: The Dark Ages will launch on May 15 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X. The PC version will support NVIDIA DLSS 4 Frame Generation and path tracing. There are also rumors of a Nintendo Switch 2 version, which wouldn’t be at all surprising considering that both previous games were released for the original Switch console.
